Inside the Lab - What is Rheometry?

Proper selection or custom design of synthetic lubricants for customers’ applications requires consideration of many physical properties and application criteria. Customers need data to ensure that their mechanisms or devices will function properly under specific operating conditions and predict product life. Nye technologists utilize a variety of methods to evaluate our products for applications. One method utilizes rheometry.

Pictured above: A Rheometer test apparatus

Rheometry is the study of the flow and deformation of matter which describes the interrelation between force, deformation and time – the science of rheology. Rheometry experiments help us understand how our grease, gel or fluid products behave in mechanisms or devices, and yields information on the expected stability of that performance under specified conditions of storage and use. It is especially important for viscoelastic products used for motion control, often referred to as ‘damping greases.’

Rheometry is a critical research and development tool that helps Nye chemists and engineers better understand and characterize the properties of our existing products so that we can more precisely recommend ones that are likely to meet a customer’s specific needs. We use it to ‘map’ how specific products fit within product lines which guides our new product development strategy. Additionally, rheometry allows us to simulate real-world applications, which helps us develop new high-performance formulations that meet desired customer specifications.

Customer requirements can be very diverse! For example, some customers might need greases or gels that shear down aggressively in motion, yielding a lower viscosity, yet need to recover rapidly. Other customers may require lightly structured fluids with strong adhesion to specific plastic or metal substrates. As Nye invests in ever more advanced rheometers, we can address fluid flow through more complicated geometries, such as through an orifice as pushed by a piston.

Rheometry and Nye’s Medical Equipment Market

This special Nye capability is very important for customers engaged in the design and manufacture of precision mechanisms in mission-critical applications. The need for precise and comprehensive analysis of properties is heightened in heavily regulated industries where reducing risk is critical. For example, in our Medical market we can help our customers through regulatory submissions by providing them with data on storage stability and other properties and create meaningful product specifications. The use of sophisticated rheometry in Quality Control ensures that products meet specification before they leave our facility.

Much of what we routinely do today at Nye would not have been possible 10 years ago and yields a strong competitive advantage when combined with our other company skills and capabilities, such as consultative selling, flexible manufacture, and modern quality management systems. From the perspective of the demanding Medical Market, these capabilities combine with other factors to make Nye a truly unique, full-service, niche sub-component supplier: ISO 13485 certification; custom formulation expertise utilizing a very broad range of materials for high performance; customer support from concept through post-production phases; a range of biocompatible NyeMed® products; cleanrooms for critical production, and an expert Medical Market Team that collaborates globally.

Chris Andreola– Senior Product & Innovation Manager, Damping & Medical Products

Chris joined Nye in 2011. He leads market development, technical strategy, program conceptualization, and product development for Nye’s Medical Equipment Market, and assists in the development and implementation of advanced motion control technology to achieve success in other market niches.  His technical focus is the use of polymer and particle science to customize viscoelastic gels and greases for high performance and stability. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry & Biology from the College of New Jersey and a PhD in Organic & Polymer Chemistry from New York University.

John Doherty – Senior Product Development Engineer

John has been with Nye for almost 15 years and now works on developing and commercializing new products, evaluating and characterizing raw materials, creating and validating test methods, and supporting new and existing customers. Additionally, John specializes in the rheological characterization of non-Newtonian viscoelastic specialty lubricants, sealants, and motion control gels. John holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Chemical Engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology.